The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 eBook

C.

[Footnote 1: ‘Love in a Tub’, Act
iv, sc, 6.]

[Footnote 2: In Plutarch’s ‘Life’
of him.]

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*

No. 128. Friday, July 27, 1711.
Addison.

‘...
Concordia discors.’

Lucan.

Women in their Nature are much more gay and joyous
than Men; whether it be that their Blood is more refined,
their Fibres more delicate, and their animal Spirits
more light and volatile; or whether, as some have
imagined, there may not be a kind of Sex in the very
Soul, I shall not pretend to determine. As Vivacity
is the Gift of Women, Gravity is that of Men.
They should each of them therefore keep a Watch upon
the particular Biass which Nature has fixed in their
Mind, that it may not draw too much, and lead
them out of the Paths of Reason. This will certainly
happen, if the one in every Word and Action affects
the Character of being rigid and severe, and the other
of being brisk and airy. Men should beware of
being captivated by a kind of savage Philosophy, Women
by a thoughtless Gallantry. Where these Precautions
are not observed, the Man often degenerates into a
Cynick, the Woman into a Coquet; the Man grows sullen
and morose, the Woman impertinent and fantastical.

By what I have said, we may conclude, Men and Women
were made as Counterparts to one another, that the
Pains and Anxieties of the Husband might be relieved
by the Sprightliness and good Humour of the Wife.
When these are rightly tempered, Care and Chearfulness
go Hand in Hand; and the Family, like a Ship that
is duly trimmed, wants neither Sail nor Ballast.

Natural Historians observe, (for whilst I am in the
Country I must fetch my Allusions from thence) That
only the Male Birds have Voices; That their Songs
begin a little before Breeding-time, and end a little
after; That whilst the Hen is covering her Eggs, the
Male generally takes his Stand upon a Neighbouring
Bough within her Hearing; and by that means amuses
and diverts her with his Songs during the whole Time
of her Sitting.

This Contract among Birds lasts no longer than till
a Brood of young ones arises from it; so that in the
feather’d Kind, the Cares and Fatigues of the
married State, if I may so call it, lie principally
upon the Female. On the contrary, as in our Species
the Man and [the] Woman are joined together for Life,
and the main Burden rests upon the former, Nature
has given all the little Arts of Soothing and Blandishment
to the Female, that she may chear and animate her
Companion in a constant and assiduous Application
to the making a Provision for his Family, and the
educating of their common Children. This however
is not to be taken so strictly, as if the same Duties
were not often reciprocal, and incumbent on both Parties;
but only to set forth what seems to have been the
general Intention of Nature, in the different Inclinations
and Endowments which are bestowed on the different
Sexes.